30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 1: I am thankful for my mom – she lives nearby and has been gone for two weeks to England and I picked her up at the airport that evening and realized how much I miss her. Even though I don’t talk every day or see her every week, there is some sort of comfort in knowing she is nearby and that I can go over and get mom time with a 10 minute drive to her house.

Day 2: I am thankful for my two cats – one is new to us and he loves sitting at my feet while I work. The other one is getting friendlier as time goes on, but she mostly finds a spot to hide and sleep in peace.

Day 3: My house is my cozy place, my back yard, my living room, my own bed. All of it. I built it to be a cozy, welcoming place, that I love to come home to every day. I am thankful that I could build that.

Day 4: Thankful for my favorite snack… popcorn. Kettle corn, regular popcorn, buttered popcorn. Popcorn for dinner… You get the picture.

Day 5 of thankfulness – place – I am thankful for the San Carlos Chickens’ Ball, a group of people that come together every other year to form a place of sanctuary for performing and entertaining while raising money for the performing arts in our San Carlos schools, since 1940. How cool is that!!!

Day 6 ‪#‎30daysofthankfulness‬ shoes- where do I begin… Black boots that look like I channel motorcycle cops, kick ass heels? Too many to count… Let’s leave it at too many to count…

Day 7: scent, well, I don’t wear perfume or scents very often because most things make me sneeze.., but to pick a scent I am thankful for…it’s gotta be three pounds of bacon cooking for a meal with a dozen amazingly talented choreographers! And the scent of smelly teens, this will be gone before I know it and then what will I have to “complain” about and my last entry for this one is the flowers in my garden! I love being able to bound out into my yard and pick flowers to share in my house and with others.
Day 8: restaurant… Hmm Starbucks, is that a restaurant! I go there practically everyday… I must enjoy it! Chai tea lattes, yes! Ok restaurant for real…, I think whatever new place I am about to try, I am thankful my work and sense of exploration take me to places with good food, actually amazing food! Last month I tried new BBQ places and a steak house, all of which were fabulous!

Day 9: website or blog.., that’s a no brainier… I am thankful for my own blog and website, where I can share the good, the bad, and the ugly, and then some…people are fundamentally lonely and they seek out a connection with others and writing gives me a chance to connect with others in a way that every day interaction doesn’t foster. Www.iampractigal.com

Day 10: Time of day… I am thankful for sunrise, every day; it means I’m alive to see another day! I like to wake up just before sunrise and go out for my morning exercise to see the sun rise in all its spectacularness!

Day 11: Tradition – I am thankful for silly little traditions like playing games after dinner or making abelskivers on holiday mornings or ritual traditions like “It’s Saturday morning Bears!” or the football captains holding hands as they go meet the other team captains or road trip traditions like finding new donut places or a greasy spoon that serves biscuits and gravy… you know the little things, the little traditions. That’s what I am thankful for!

Day 12: Gadget – hmm, how truthful to be…nope, not going there…I am thankful for the Rabbit wine opener gadget that our Charter Chickens’ Ball skit cast got me as a thank you gift. It has been put to good use over the last 5 years.

Day 13: Something old – wow – this is a toughie! I think after visiting my grandmother on Tuesday, I am going to choose her – Edith Rector, who is 92; she looks good but is declining in health and memory. We think she has had a couple of strokes over the last two or three years. I joined her at lunch at Palm Villa which is a place for people (with dementia) when they can no longer take care of themselves. The whole experience made me wonder why we are working so hard to stay alive longer and then have a quality of life that, in my opinion, sucks. She recognized me, but didn’t recognize the boys when I showed her their latest picture (with smiles). For lunch, she ate a few bites of her scrambled eggs (because she doesn’t eat mashed potatoes) but none of her meatloaf or broccoli. Most people didn’t eat their lunch or had to be fed. No conversations at the table of 5 (or very little conversation that didn’t involve the food). One gentleman stared at his food, pushed it around twice but didn’t actually eat anything. He ate two spoonfuls of applesauce that were fed to him. One gentleman ate his soup and then proceeded to sleep at the table. The other two people at the table ate every single bite of their food and dessert. One lady kept up a conversation, but not the other one. This is not an indictment of the place where she is because the people that I met were all taking care of every person in the room plus others that were in their rooms. But it makes me wonder at what cost are we living longer. It makes me appreciate the good times and visits and the learning I had with/from my grandmother. It makes me appreciate that my other grandmother, who is 97, still lives on her own, not in a home.

Day 14: Something new – I am thankful for Elvis, who is new to us since June and he is quite the cat! He joined our lives as part of a crazy adventure in cat breeding. He is a very entertaining and amazing animal and I am thankful that Cherie Morgan found him for us and that she and Heather cooked up this scheme! This picture is from the first night we had him in our home – he hid in the bathtub. He still likes to sleep like this – with his head or paws against something.

Day 15: experience – wow this one is tough, there are so many to choose from. I think I am most thankful for my experience of motherhood. It’s an ever changing, crazy, fulfilling, enlightening, and amazing learning experience! Where would I be without my three boys?!?

Day 16: recipe – that’s easy- I am thankful for the fabulous Tollhouse cookie recipe for chocolate chip cookies- the most used recipe in our house.

Day 17: Store – I am thankful for any yarn store I find when I am traveling. It is like a hidden gem, where I can spend hours perusing and dreaming – “what will this look like knitted up?” “what about…” it leads to endless dreaming. Then you get to the cash register and reality hits you… and then you get your purchases home and reality smacks you in the face again – where is this yarn going to go? Secret yarn stash here we come!

Day 18: quote. I’m not sure I have a favorite it quote. If I did, it would be something like this – be kind to everyone, you don’t know what they are going through. And besides, it doesn’t hurt to be kind anyway! I think I keep coming back to the quote IngerMarie Davis has on her email – Always be kinder than necessary. If I had to pick a famous quote, I’d pick the words on the Statue of Liberty… they seem appropriate given what is going on in this crazy world.

Day 19: Clothing – I am thankful that I can make clothing – by knitting or sewing. I am grateful that I can repurpose, recycle, and reuse clothing – I’ve had a blast with the Chickens’ Ball costumes ad doing this throughout the years. I am about to embark on big project to make the boys quilts from their old t-shirts and our old clothing. I am thankful for clothes exchanges with friends. My favorite was one we did in college and I got a beautiful blue striped Espirit shirt from Deborah Moritz-Farr. I wore it so much – years and years – that the shoulders wore out – that is one that is going make an appearance in the boys’ quilts.

Day 20: Keepsake – I am thankful for my teddybear. He is as old as me and I won’t ever give him up smile emoticon Bears have a strong presence in my life…Cal bears, Teenagers who act like bears… The picture of me and McKInley was taken during our first year at the Lair, 2002. He was 1 and to keep him warm, we dressed him as a bear. You can see my own teddy bear on my pillow. That bear has been all over the world and even on the roof of my high school. The other picture of McKinley is from Christmas when we visited Matt in Arizona. McKinley thought Matt’s dad was Santa Claus and he kept climbing out of bed and coming downstairs to see him. One of his presents the next morning was the momma and baby bear – I absolutely love his smile in this picture. The older pictures are me at about 7 months old – the bear was about the same size as me when I was born three months prematurely. Teddy is a little more worn and no longer has his ribbon or even most of his eyes. He is still my favorite keepsake.

Day 21: disappointment/fear – it’s hard to be thankful for this one but it’s true. I am truly disappointed that I could not make my marriage with Greg work. But I am thankful for the years I had with him and the growth and learning that I have done during our marriage and thereafter. I am fearful of not finding love again and even though I am finding the process to be completely indescribable, I am thankful for figuring out what the heck I want and don’t want!

Day 22: Book – I am thankful for any book that I am reading at the moment; that the author had the brain power and sticktuitiveness to get the book written and published. I am working on that same fortitude and hope that someone has that exact same feeling about what I have written some day. I am thankful for a few books and one of the most recent ones is The Five Love Languages. Really insightful and helpful.

Day 23: Feeling – I am incredibly thankful for the feeling I get when my boys walk through the door – so full of energy, excitement, and commotion.

 

Day 24: picture – when I think of all the pictures I have or have taken, a few standout. This is one of them, I have another one that is similar to this one where I am sitting in my grandmother’s little red rocking chair with a toy in my hands ( a semi-tractor trailer). There are many, many pictures taken of all of the kids and grandkids in that rocking chair! This is the official one, taken when I was around 2. I am thankful that my grandmother took the time to teach me how use her Canon AE-1 Program camera and I am thankful my mom bought me one before I went to live in Germany my Senior year of High School. I am thankful I have been able to explore cameras and photos ever since!

Day 25: luxury. I have everything I need, everything else is a want. I’ve had a hard time deciding exactly which luxury I am thankful for. I narrowed it down to two very different things, my car and pedicures. I’ve got a workhorse of a wagon that’s 15 years old and I’ve got ~10 to go with it to get to 300,000 miles. It’s not far from my very first workhorse of a car (the white one pictured)! Being able to walk in and get a pedicure while sitting in one of those massage chairs with friends leads to laughter and good times. Gina Grandolfo led me down the path of getting pedicures after we got out of law school. Before that I had always done (and still mostly do) them on my own. But every once in awhile I’ll be able to get a pedicure/manicure and it is so nice! I am thankful and grateful for both of these little luxuries.

Day 26: Charity – I think philanthropy makes the world go round… it’s nearly impossible to pick one favorite charity. I’m for charities that make a difference – and that takes a little bit of work to figure out which ones are making a difference and not just paying executives or running a bloated organization. I have a couple of types of things that I support because of the difference they make – literacy and national parks. I support literacy because there is nothing like education to better yourself and to learn. I would add financial literacy to this as well. Parks are important to support because once the land is used for something else it is very difficult to get it back and return it its natural state. 

Day 27: Song – Well, this would have to be the Star Spangled Banner, which makes me tear up every time I hear it. I am thankful we built a country on democracy and I am worried we are pissing it away in a manner that is irretrievable.

Day 28: Gift – I am thankful for the homemade gifts my children have given me over the years – the pictures, the poems, the little coupon booklets, the ornaments. I hang up the little ones they made me in pre-school for the holidays – it’s such a great reminder of the fleeting moments we have together. ‪

Day 29: Something at home — I am thankful for the furniture my grandfather made (dining room cabinet/hutch) , the furniture my mom and grandmother gave me (dining room table and chairs, hall table, music cabinet),the furniture my brother gave the boys (a really nice bedroom set) and the furniture that my mom refinished and hand-painted for me when I was a child (my bedroom set) . I love being among things that have a personal, family touch. It is a daily reminder of what matters – family, taking care of each other.

Day 30: most thankful for… I am most thankful for my good health. Sure my shoulders are a little crunchy and my knees will tell you when rain is coming… but I hardly ever missed a day of school, was never sick, never in the hospital until I had babies…Yes, I am most thankful for my good health!

What are you thankful for?